UNM researcher lands $2.3M to study ovarian cancer

A University of New Mexico Cancer Center researcher has gotten a five-year, $2.3 million grant to study ovarian cancer.

The grant from the National Institutes of Health will allow UNM professor of epidemiology and biostatistics Linda Cook to study the DNA differences in women with and without ovarian cancer, the Cancer Center said in a news release.

“Our hypothesis is that we will see differences” in the DNA, Cook said. “Our preliminary data suggests that these differences may be related to survival.”

Cook will use a database of blood and tissue samples of more than 4,200 Canadian women, 1,600 of whom have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, as well as information on their lifestyles.

“We are challenged on every front by this cancer. It’s even challenging to find modifiable risk factors, such as behaviors that people can change,” Cook added.